VILLANOVA, Pa. (AP) The Final Four had been set for decades: Duke, North Carolina, Kansas and Kentucky were crowned as college basketball’s royalty.
They are the blue-bloods of basketball where deep NCAA Tournament runs are the norm, NBA prospects play, hardwood rules the sports landscape and an air of superiority reigns in programs rich in tradition and with alumni rich enough to help fund state-of-the-art practice facilities or arenas.
Grandpa might tell you UCLA or Indiana should still be in the mix. Maybe the kids like Michigan State or Arizona.
But a fifth team has firmly crashed the field: Villanova. Its fans turn up their noses at the Philly schools while the team turns up the heat in the Big East and is positioned for a second national championship in three years.
The road to the best program in hoops may start where the original rules of the game are housed at Kansas, hit Tobacco Road, head to the home of the one-and-done prospect in Lexington but it ends on the Main Line, a wealthy stretch of Philadelphia suburbs home to Villanova.
The Wildcats soared to the top of the AP Top 25, earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and won another Big East Tournament title without a senior on the roster. Jalen Brunson, named Tuesday to the AP All-America team, Phil Booth, Mikal Bridges and Donte DiVincenzo carried the Wildcats in stretches in tournament wins over Radford, Alabama, West Virginia and Texas Tech.
We played the two best teams in the Big 12 and now were getting THE best team in the Big 12, Wright said. We know it’s going to be tougher.
The 2016 team trumps the underdog ’85 champs that shocked the sport for best in Nova history.
With two more wins, this year’s team should stand alone.
Youve got guys that won a national championship. Theres not too many teams that get to play in the game, play in the Final Four with guys that have won it, Wright said Tuesday. Its a totally different dynamic than the 16 team and I like it.
